The Chalk Blog

Pack Your Bags for Your Summer Adventure!

Most teachers agree, summer is the time to refresh, recharge, and reconnect after the school year (finally) comes to a close. For many teachers, summer is also a time for travel! If you are traveling this summer, (lucky you!) below is a list of tips you may want to try and a list of things you will definitely want to avoid when traveling this summer.

Bon voyage!

Passion Projects

Spring Break has come and gone and you’ve (barely) survived the testing season. Summer vacation is near, but the countdown is still in the double digits.  Your students are restless and so are you. What do you do?! How about introducing an activity that sparks joy and intrinsic motivation in your students. One that allows them the freedom to explore areas of personal passion and encourages creative thinking. Something that combines fun and learning.  How about Passion Projects?! 

The Passion Project movement has morphed over decades from a workplace approach to cultivating innovation among employees at 3M to something called 20% time or Genius Hour at Google.  It’s now a popular practice for schools to infuse personalized learning and creativity into their curriculum. Students spend at least one hour each week researching an area of personal interest and designing an engaging multimedia product to be shared with others.   

Personalizing your continuing education

Do you ever ask yourself, “How can I earn credit for all of this learning!”? 

Learners Edge has the answer, you can. 

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3! 

At Learners Edge, we offer a suite of Personalized Continuing Education courses where YOU tell US what you want to learn.  

You can do it in three easy steps!  

Celebrating 10 Years of Book Study at Learners Edge!

"There is power in unity and there is power in numbers." 

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Collaboration is not new, but in our profession, engaging with one another is truly a gift, and a wonderful opportunity for discussion and action.  

The Book Study from Learners Edge is one of five personalized professional development opportunities available, and the only option to complete as a group. The syllabus is a framework for teachers to guide their own learning using a text of their choice, which has made this course perfect for 3,368 groups in the 10 years of its existence.  

It's about to get personal...

Although I am not (yet) a famous “influencer” I will do my part to try to influence you into using a new educational acronym: PCE!

Let me ask you a few questions…How motivated would you be to learn a new skill your supervisor demanded you learn? Would your motivation level be high or low if the skill you needed to learn was of no interest to you? What would you think if your supervisor could not provide a reason for you to learn the skill? Would you be motivated if you had to learn the skill the exact way your supervisor learns best?  

These situations occur daily in our schools! Teachers are told what to teach and how to teach it, and then students are told what to learn and how to learn it.  

What if I told you there is another way to teach and learn that can increase intrinsic motivation? 

You want to keep reading, don’t you?! I believe personalized learning increases intrinsic motivation, but by all means, you decide…